Ghana loses GH¢1.5m to fuel thieves

The country has in the last two years lost almost 1.5 million Ghana cedis as a result of illegal siphoning of fuel from the Accra plains pipeline.

This came to light after the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) together with the Ghana Armed Forces uncovered several fuel siphoning spots on the pipeline.

According to BOST, almost 800 thousand litres of petrol have so far been tapped from the pipeline which transports fuel from Tema to Akosombo.

Speaking to Joy Business, Acting General Manager in charge of operations at BOST, Benjamin Arthur said his outfit suspects there could be other illegal connections on the pipeline, and would divert their “immediate attention” there.

“On the long term, what we intend to do is to install SKADA system on the pipeline, surveillance and monitoring systems, where the operations of the pipeline can be controlled or mentored from a central control point.

“So somebody would be at the control room and would be able to monitor all activities on the pipeline, even unusual movements would trigger a signal to the control room.”

Director of Public Relations at the Ghana Armed Forces, Colonel M’Bawine Atintande also called on the nearby communities to cooperate with the security agencies to apprehend the culprits as they continue with their surveillance.